Face Towards Enemy

When we look back at how first-person shooters have evolved over the past decade or so, WWII was really the setting that started it all and set us down on this path that has led us to modern and futuristic weaponry and intricate geo-political storylines that may be rooted in some obscure facts. But the folks at City Interactive want to make sure that we do not forget about the past and so in a market flooded with modern settings, they give us Enemy Front, an old-school, no holds barred, down and dirty WWII first-person shooter that reminds us why its so much fun to romanticize our grandfather’s war and just blow Nazis up.

In Enemy Front you play as an American OSS Ranger who epitomizes the strong, silent type. Inserted into Nazi occupied Europe during the invasion of Dunkirk while the Allies are in full retreat, you’re running in the opposite direction, headfirst right into the teeth of the Nazi war machine. There, you will team up with a sexy female French resistance fighter and a no frills British commando to work your way deep behind enemy lines to take out key Nazi installations as your mission won’t take you on the traditional direct line to Berlin. Instead you’ll fight through at least France, Poland, and Norway as you assault some of Hitler’s most prized outposts in order to help the Allies turn the tide of the war. And because of the variety of locales, don’t expect this to be your typical five-hour campaign.

“A big thing I wanted to do was get out of that 5-hour campaign rut. I’m sick of it. I’m a huge FPS fan myself, obviously, and it’s just like as I’m about to really get into these other games that are out there, it’s over. So our levels are looking to be about an hour long each. They’re built on CryEngine 3. You can do pretty wide open levels with that, but we’ve kept things relatively linear. It’s a bit of a corridor shooter, but you’ll see that it’s a very wide corridor and you still have options on paths to take and what not. I’m a big believer in the Power of Three when it comes to game development. Anytime you’re thinking of a number in development, it’s probably three. So at any given moment, in terms of level design, I want to player to have at least three choices as to where they’re going and what they’re going to do. And so we’re looking at about 11 levels and hoping to get about 12 hours out of the campaign,” says Enemy Front Creative Director Stuart Black.

Enemy Front also looks to differentiate itself via the weapons it allows you to use and how they can be used in combat. Spotlighting a lot of less featured weapons from most other WWII games allows the game to have a newer feel in this old-school genre as weapons like the British Lanchester SMG are actually your character’s weapons of choice. There is also a unique reload system where you can reload your weapon faster, no matter what it is, if the clip hasn’t been fully emptied. This risk/reward system can become critical in a firefight as you have to strategically plan when to reload as a longer reload caused by emptying the clip could mean the difference between life and death.

But just because a lot of focus is being keyed in on the single player campaign for the game doesn’t mean it won’t have a multiplayer feature. Looking to incorporate a territory-based twist to your standard Team Deathmatch, Enemy Front will definitely allow you to jump online with your buddies for some WWII setting multiplayer mayhem. Beyond the confirmation of Team Deathmatch though, there was nothing else that was willing to be revealed about the mode at this time.

All in all, this throwback seems like a breath of fresh air as, even with its simplified scene and story, it gives the player a real sense of empowerment pitting you against the entire Third Reich and giving you a legit chance to come out on top. I can’t wait to return to my WWII first-person shooter roots a bit when Enemy Front comes out during this upcoming holiday season.

Ray Carsillo has extensive roots in geek culture, as he’s written about video games, comics, and movies for such outlets as Newsday.com, ESPNNewYork.com, Classic Game Room on YouTube, Collider.com, and Comicvine.com before finally settling into EGM as reviews & previews editor. His main goal in life? To become king of all geek media, of course! Follow Ray’s exploits on Twitter: @RayCarsillo. Meet the rest of the crew.